Verizon Wireless Will Move Away From Unlimited Plans For LTE Network

Bad news for hardcore data users out there, we imagine. Our pining for an unlimited data plan, when Verizon Wireless finally transitions to their LTE network, is something that we don't keep secret. But obviously we don't get everything we want, now do we? Speaking at a Barclays Capital conference this week, Verizon head-honcho Lowell McAdam made some revealing comments about the largest wireless carrier in the United States' transition to 4G, and how it will affect those who want to pay for its data.

Basically, he wants to implement "buckets." Where customers pay for buckets of megabyte usage, just like we used to do all those years ago. The troubling part of this, is the fact that it will cost Verizon only half, if not a third of what it costs today to transmit the same amount of data over LTE, that it does over 3G. So, we're going to chalk this one up to constraints on the network itself, as the spectrum is still relatively limited.

On the other hand, Verizon plans to implement voice over their LTE network by 2012, after bolstering their LTE-based devices in 2011. So, that's definitely good news, especially if it alludes to anything like Voice Over LTE, which we mentioned a few days back in regards to a Verizon iPhone. We'll see what happens, but hopefully those buckets Verizon Wireless has ready for us are pretty deep, and not that expensive.

[via GSMA Mobile Business Briefing]